Finding a Body

Dark Herbalist Series, Book 4

By: Michael Atamanov, Andrew Schmitt - translator

Narrated by: Eric Michael Summerer

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

What is it like for a small flap-eared goblin herbalist to play the role of the Dark Sovereign, the main antagonist for Boundless Realm's hundreds of millions of players? What is it like to find one's self the standard bearer for an army of man-eating giants, cyclops, skeletons, ghosts, and other hellspawn, who don't give a damn about their modest little ruler?

Our hero didn't desire such an unenviable fate, but there is no way back now. He'll just have to tighten the straps and play the ghastly overlord to the innumerable hordes that now threaten all Boundless Realm. But the longer our hero plays, the better he understands that this world is much more complicated than it seems at first glance and he is just a pawn in someone else's game. And lots of things depend on whether he can figure all of it out in the short time he has left, including his own life.

©2018 M. Atamanov; English translation copyright 2018 by Andrew Schmitt (P)2019 Tantor

Definitely did not see most of this coming!!

A great final chapter to Timothy’s/Amra’s virtual life and what an event it turned into - both in the game world and the real world. There were some chapters that I wished were longer just to enjoy the depth of the world, as well as better understand the increasing speed of events. However the big reveal on that was a surprise! Great book and performance!!

Good book, rushed ending

With this forth book being released I've recently happily revisited the whole series to finally get to the juicy finale and I'm quite happy with the result.

Since this is a translated series, there are a few odd statements or lines where I'm assuming the meaning was lost in translation. This is pretty common throughout the series with this one probably having the most examples of it. I could see some people being annoyed by these but I personally found them rather quaint and don't hold them against the story in the slightest.

The love interests in the story are probably the weakest point of this novel. With one ghosting the main character and becoming a completely different character, while the other almost appearing to have a split personality flip flopping between love and mistrust depending on the paragraph. The author tends to have a good explanation for these problems throughout the series but this book is left for us to just guess at reasons. I personally feel that the author may have been rushed to finish his series and some explanations may have been left on the cutting room floor, or that the author didn't have enough time to include them properly.

The game mechanics of this series are one of it's best qualities in my opinion. Everything is explained in a straightforward and concise way and the main character has good reasons for all of his choices which lead to him feeling almost overpowered. Almost is a an important distinction though, since you constantly feel like his abilities are attainable by your average Joe. By the end of the story, the stats and skills can get quite wordy but the fact that the author only lists these out around twice per novel really helps.

In the end, while the story may feel a little obvious and the ending quite rushed, this is still one of my favourite video game or litRPG books on the market and I would suggest it to anyone who is a fan of the genre!

Fun

The title was good and enjoyable and I look forward to future works. Eric Summerer is a great Narrator.

Wow! What a finally.

Great audiobook series. Engaging and fresh. Glad I stumbled across this one. Thank you thank you

virtual Voice versus real

there is something that you get from a great voice actor that an AI voice will never achieve.

a good game

an interesting game lit novel. Blending events in game and IRL, Has a power ramp in the last book, but feels right.

Incredible conclusion to an awesome series

Such an incredible and unique series with a great and fitting conclusion. Eric Michael Summerer was wonderful as the narrator as well. I will definitely listen to the entire series again.

really fun listen

this book was better then the last. there were still a fee moments when you want to slap the MC and other characters act out of character for purposes of dramatizing a moment but the overall plot was great. I kind of wish the author went deeper into the action of that last battle. I really think that could have been an opportunity to see each of the key characters in their glory. not to mention some of the OP characters that joined from the boundless world. that withstanding I was on the edge of my chair for the last few chapters.

5stars

Well done. Well narrated.  will be looking forward to the next from this author. You should buy this book.

Omg!!!

This one has me on the edge of my seat the whole time. Premium membership is worth this series being free all on its own!! Had me thinking inception levels of conspiracy theories until nearly the very end!!!